Season 2 of the World eX Championship and #racingfortheclimate is coming to an end this Tuesday (December 20, 19:00 UTC) with the German eX Prix at the Nürburgring. Round 9 of the esports racing series for zero-emission sports cars will be followed by a 2-lap shoot-out on the famous Nordschleife which will decide the outcome of the 2022 World eX Championship.
The biggest question: Can anybody stop “Walter”? Esports Team WRT’s No. 31 ESPORTS entry – nicknamed “Walter” – has been the dominant force this year in the hands of Germany’s Devin Braune. The software developer from Studio 397 achieved three wins and a record of seven consecutive podium finishes. He just missed the podium in the opening round at Silverstone.
Braune has already secured the “Best ESPORTS racer” of the year award while Esports Team WRT will win the “Best team” of the year award. But courtesy of World eX’s unique format, the World Championship will be decided in the Super Final.
All winning cars plus all cars which reached at least one time the Final of one of the nine regular races are qualified for the Super Final. So far this are both cars from WRT and ACER VERO R8G plus one car each from TK9 E-SPeeD, BS+COMPETITION and NIANCO esports. The four other teams – Absolute Racing, Biela Racing Team EURONICS, Patrick Long Esports and Williams Esports – have just one more chance to make the cut. Just two more cars could be added to the Super Final grid.
The German eX Prix presented by Biela Racing Team EURONICS promoting “Planted” and the Super Final will be streamed live on motorsport.tv and YouTube from 19:00 UTC. The World eX Twitch channel will cover Free Practice, the Drivers’ Briefing and Qualifying starting at 17:00 UTC. Luisa Skottke and Martin Kummerow will be the hosts and Dave Richardson the commentator.
And this are the teams looking for the big trophy:
Esports Team WRT
Team Principal: Vincent Vosse
PRO Drivers: Chris Overend, Dries Vanthoor
ESPORTS Driver: Devin Braune
Climate Preservation Project:
Best 2022 result: P1 (Maastricht, Sepang, Indy)
The successful sports car team from real world racing could achieve its biggest success in esports racing at the Nürburgring. It’s No. 31 ESPORTS entry “Walter” has been the dominant force of the season in the hands of Devin Braune. The No. 31 car is out of reach in the overall standings before the final round of the series and will thus start the final shoot-out from pole position. Handicapped PRO racer Chris Overend finished second last time in the Indy eX Prix making sure both WRT cars are qualified for the Super Final. This could be an advantage for the Belgian team knowing how important slipstreaming is with the eX ZERO, especially on the Nordschleife. Interestingly, WRT was the smallest team of the season running only three drivers through the year – all of them will be World Champions if Devin Braune or Chris Overend will win the Super Final.
TK9 E-SPeeD
Team Principal: Tom Kristensen
PRO drivers: Lasse Sørensen, Andreas Jochimsen
ESPORTS drivers: Oskar Kristensen, Rasmus Busk
Climate Preservation Project: Klimaraded
Best 2022 result: P1 (Daytona, Monza)
Lasse Sørensen was the dominant driver of World eX in Season 1. But the Dane was defeated in the 2021 Super Final when Williams Esports’ Martin Stefanko passed him at the end of Lap 1. Sørensen was not close enough on the final lap and had to be content with P2. Sørensen has won two races in Season 2 and will try everything to win the all-decisive race this time with “Danish Dynamite”. With six wins, Tom Kristensen’s TK9 E-SPeeD is the most successful team of the series.
ACER VERO R8G
Team Principal: Romain Grosjean
PRO drivers: Gordon Mutch, Alessandro De Tullio, Elliot Vayron, Ellis Spiezia
ESPORTS drivers: Jiri Toman, Timotej Andonovksi, Przemyslaw Lemanek, Timea Bencsik, Risto Kappet
Climate Preservation Project: Acer Earthion
Best 2022 result: P1 (Silverstone, Le Mans, Spa)
Romain Grosjean’s esports racing team R8G Esports is competing as AVER VERO R8G in the World eX Championship promoting the sustainability programme of their long-time partner ACER. Jiri Toman won two of his first three races in World eX for the French outfit getting the “VERO 88” car on the Super Final grid. Gordon Mutch won the Belgian eX Prix at Spa-Francorchamps making sure the teams’ PRO entry “VERO 8” is also qualified for the Super Final. Like WRT, AVER VERO R8G thus will have both of their regular cars on the grid.
BS+COMPETITION
Team Principal: Bruno Spengler
PRO drivers: Philippe Denes, Beistke Visser, Elias Seppänen
ESPORTS drivers: Alen Terzic, Jimmy Broadbent
Climate Preservation Project: Forest Conservation Kenya
Best 2022 result: P2 (Daytona, Spa)
Alen Terzic secured BS+COMPETITION a ticket for the Super Final as early as in Round 2 when he finished second behind Lasse Sørensen in the US eX Prix at Daytona. Terzic has never won a race in the World eX Championship despite reaching a Final of the series already four times. He was very strong at the Nürburgring Sprint Circuit last year and will definitely need to be watched on the Nordschleife, too with the No. 27 “ZEBRAlen” eX ZERO. Beitske Visser is the team’s lead PRO driver and the second-best PRO racing driver in the standings.
NIANCO esports
Team Principal: Nico Müller
PRO drivers: Nico Müller, Miklas Born, Yannick Mettler, Patrick Niederhauser
ESPORTS drivers: Thomas Schmid, Freddy Eugster, Julian Ammann, Jasmom Preisig
Climate Preservation Project: World Wide Fund For Nature
Best 2022 result: P2 (Sepang)
PRO racing driver and NIANCO founder Nico Müller come close scoring the first victory for the Swiss Team in the 2021 Italian eX Prix at Monza with a P2 finish. Young Swiss PRO racing driver Miklas Born matched the team’s best finish this season in the Malaysian eX Prix at Sepang securing NIANCO esports an unexpected ticket for the Super Final. The Swiss Team will be the dark horse on the Nordschleife with the No. 51 “Stögu” PRO entry.
Williams Esports
Team Principal: Bruno Senna
PRO drivers: Jack Aitken, Bruno Senna, Will Tregurtha
ESPORTS drivers: Martin Stefanko, Jack Keithley
Climate Preservation Project: Letcombe Brook Project
Best 2022 result: P3 (Sepang)
Martin Stefanko won the Season 1 Super Final beating Lasse Sørensen on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife saying his tyre management was the key to winning the Drivers’ World Championship. Stefanko missed most the races of Season 2 before returning to the series. He finished fourth at Spa-Francorchamps while Jack Keithley gave the No. 98 ESPORTS entry its best result of the season so far with a third place at Sepang. The team’s No. 16 PRO entry has also never reached a Final this year which means so far Williams Esports is not yet qualified for Super Final. Their last chance comes on the Nürburgring Grand Prix Circuit on Tuesday.
Absolute Racing
Team Principal: Alessio Picariello
PRO drivers: Rafael Lobato, Martin Rump
ESPORTS drivers: Xiayufei Li, Yanzhe Li
Climate Preservation Project: LAMAVE
Best 2022 result: P4 (Maastricht)
Absolute Racing had some strong results in Season 2 of the World eX Championship mainly courtesy of PRO racing driver Rafael Lobato with the No. 20 “Huáng chē” PRO entry including a fourth place in Maastricht while Chinese driver Xiayufei Li showed progress during the season with the No. 25 “Hóng chē” ESPORTS entry. “Huáng chē” is eight in the overall standings but none of the team’s two cars has reached a Final yet this year.
Patrick Long Esports
Team Principal: Patrick Long
PRO drivers: Henry Drury, Dev Gore, Sebastián Saavedra
ESPORTS driver: Rory MacDuff
Climate Preservation Project: Conservation International
Best 2022 result: P5 (Le Mans, Indianapolis)
Liam de Waal gave Patrick Long Esports its first podium finish in the 2021 Maastricht eX Prix – something the US team could not repeat so far in the second season of the World eX Championship. A pair of fifth places for Rory MacDuff with the No. 29 “Shamrock” ESPORTS entry in the night race at Le Mans and at Indianapolis were the best results for Patrick Long’s team in the series with Henry Drury finishing sixth with the No. 33 “Liberty” PRO entry in the team’s home event at Daytona.
Biela Racing Team EURONICS
Team Principal: Frank Biela
PRO driver: Nicolas Hillebrand
ESPORTS drivers: Luca Kita, Michael Niemas, Efkan Birkiye
Climate Preservation Project: Planted Green
Best 2022 result: P6 (Indianapolis)
2023 started with a setback for the esports racing team of 5-time Le Mans winner Frank Biela when ESPORTS racer Luca Kita decided to leave the squad after the start of the season. Kita had secured the team’s first win in the World eX Championship at the end of Season 1 at Monza. Various replacements could not give Biela Racing Team EURONICS strong results in the ESPORTS category while PRO racer Nicolas Hillebrand gave the team its best finish of the season with a sixth place at the Indy eX Prix – a race he had won in Season 1. After having both cars in the Super Final in Season 1 Biela Racing Team EURONICS has just one more chance to make the cut: their home event at the Nürburgring.
The starting grid for the Super Final before Round 9:
1 Esports Team WRT ESPORTS #31 (Walter)
2 TK9 E-SPeeD PRO #7 (Danish Dynamite)
3 ACER VERO R8G ESPORTS #88 (Vero 88)
4 BS+COMPETITION ESPORTS #27 (ZEBRAlen)
5 ACER VERO R8G ESPORTS #8 (Vero 8)
6 NIANCO esports PRO #51 (Stögu)
7 Esports Team WRT PRO #32 (WRT Pro)
